NEWCASTLE United have been in fine form of late – winning five games in a row – and the list of potential NUFC player of the month candidates could run deep.

Argentinian Jonas Gutierrez won February’s Planet Trophies of Killingworth award for the Chronicle’s top NUFC player.

But nominations for March’s award sees a new line-up of faces.

Here are the candidates:

Hatem Ben Arfa

THE French star has been in scintillating form and his link-up with NUFC frontmen Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse has seen Newcastle rise to fifth in the Premier League. His latest goal in the 2-0 win over Bolton is a contender for goal of the season and has been compared with Diego Maradona’s wonder goal against England in the 1986 World Cup.

Papiss Cisse

THE Senegalese striker has already featured in this list for February’s award, but has justified another nomination. Cisse scored Newcastle’s second goal in the 2-0 win over Bolton, taking his personal tally to a whopping 10 goals in nine games.

Tim Krul KRUL has been arguably one of the keepers of the season and NUFC’s stretch of five consecutive wins owes a lot to the young Dutchman.

Newcastle have won their last five games – four of these have been clean sheets – which shows how impressive the United backline has been.

James Perch

UNITED’S young defender Perch has done a great job this month of dropping in to an injury-hit defence – with Fabricio Coloccini the latest casualty. He has been part of the defence like fellow nominee Tim Krul that has kept four clean sheets in their last five league games – all of which United have won.